Introduction:

Heart exploration is an essential clinical competence that requires continuous training and exposure. Low availability and accessibility to patients with heart disease constitutes a barrier to acquiring this competence. Inadequate cardiac auscultation skills in medical students, residents, and graduate physicians have been documented.

Objective:

To develop and validate a low-cost, high-fidelity simulator for heart exploration.

Methods:

A low-cost, high-fidelity heart examination simulator capable of reproducing normal cardiac sounds was designed and developed. Subsequently, the simulator was validated by a group of experts who gave their opinion according to a Likert scale.

Results:

Ninety-four percent agreed that the simulator motivates the learning of heart exploration, and 92 % considered it to be a realistic model; 91 % considered that the simulator is an attractive tool to reinforce learning and 98 % recommended its further use.

Conclusions:

The use of the simulator facilitates the acquisition of skills and stimulates learning in the student, which can be attributed to repeated practice, longer exposure time and cognitive interaction.